The U.S. Navy After the War, Nuclear Testing-- Part 5: Carriers Saratoga, Independence and Battleships Arkansas and Nagato

Among the warships targeted  in the Bikini Atoll  Nuclear Target Fleet were two aircraft carriers and five battleships.

They included the  Lexington-class carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3),  which survived the first  blast, but was damaged beyond repair in the second one and the light aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVL-22), which survived both tests. Her radioactive hulk was later taken to San Francisco for further tests and was finally scuttled off the coast of  San Francisco, California.

The battle wagons used at the tests included the USS Arkansas (BB-33), a Wyoming-class  dreadnaught battleship that was crushed by the first test, and the Japanese battleship HIJMS Nagato, which was heavily damaged in the July 25 bombing and sank five days later.

--GreGen